I was ridding on a local bike path cruising along at around 20mph, and this guy on a mtn bike flies past me- about a foot away from me, not giving me any warning of any kind. He rides ahead a bit, pulls in front of me and lets off his pedaling a little so he slows down enough, so I eventually catch up. I hang behind him for about 100 yards, waiting for some oncoming people to pass and to wait and see what the guy was doing. After about 45 seconds of being behind him I was just about to pull out to his left and pass him as I was going a tiny bit faster and I didn’t want to slow down any.

But right before I pull out to pass him he slows down and pulls off to a right, without any warning causing a near miss. “ok good, so long to that guy” I think to my self and settle back into the saddle. About a minute later he comes back up on my left and yells at me “DON’T DRAFT PEOPLE UNLESS YOU ASK THEM FIRST” and pulls ahead probably going 25mph.
Ooookkkk buddy – Me not being a very verbal person nor someone who likes to argue I just continue on my pace and let him ride ahead.

So he is off ahead, but for some insane reason he decides to slow down again, allowing me to catch up (keep in mind during this entire time I have not increased or decreased my speed), When I am about 25 feet off his rear wheel he turns around and stares at me, before he can say anything I put up my hands and say:

“Sir, You pulled in front of me and are ridding relatively the same speed, what do you want me to do?” he responds with “WELL BACK THE **** OFF SO IT DOESN’T HAPPEN”

Ok – all logic has gone down the toilet. Not wanting to risk a confrontation with an overweight middle-aged ape mounted on two wheels I wisely decided to back off. For the remaining 5 miles or so that I was on the path every minute or so he would turn his head a bit so he could just get a glance to see how far back I was.

So was I actually in the wrong? I was behind him for all of maybe a minute – if that! He could not have passed me in the first place understanding that he might not be able to maintain the speed I was going. I don’t think permission is necessary to follow someone for a minute to allow oncoming traffic to pass.

I am convinced that the age gap had something to do with his aggressive and over domineering behavior, he looked like he was mid 30’s to early 40’s, I being only 19. It is disgusting to think that because of an age difference he feels that he has the right to be a jackass.

But other than that occurrence the ride was excellent! So how was your day?